The Aulbath Chronicles
by akih08
Summary: A summary of events preceding and suceeding Rikuo Aulbath's journey in Darkstalkers 3 aka Vampire Savior including a new storyline and my own unofficial novelization of his ending in that game which I thought was one of the best I've ever seen.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: Rikuo (Aulbath), Aqueria, Ricky (Alba), Micky and all canonical characters and places from the Darkstalkers video game series are the sole property of Capcom. The author does not own any rights to these characters. **

"Hey Dad! Over here!" Rikuo Aulbath could barely believe his ears. Just five minutes ago, following the final battle between him and his friends and the demented Jedah, he'd been ready to give his beloved son up for lost, another innocent casualty of Jedah's insane plan to "reshape" the world. Now as he was wondering how he'd go on with the loss and how he was going to tell Aqueria that he'd failed in his attempt to rescue their child, his heart felt as if it would explode with all manner of joy, pride, relief, and love at hearing his son's words.

………………………………...

After the first battle, he and the other Darkstalkers had waged to rid the world of Pyron's tyranny, Rikuo, like the others, had decided to settle down from fighting. He'd met Aqueria, together they had brought Ricky into the world, and despite the assumption that they were the last of their kind, they'd managed to live a peaceful life. Still, it does get lonely not having others to play with when you're still a child and Ricky's loving parents had done what they could to keep him from becoming bored. Rikuo had even taken them up topside for land bound excursions to meet some of his other friends and allies that he'd fought alongside and Ricky had quickly made friends his own age (presumably) like Jon Talbain's students, Felicia's catgirl friends and the children from her orphanage, and even some of the Sasquatch youth from Quatos's village. But mer-people can only survive out of the water for so long and they always had to cut the playtime short and return to their rightful environment. And unless some of Ricky's land-dwelling playmates knew how to scuba dive or pilot a submarine, the notion of Ricky having visitors of his own was basically out of the question.

So it was only natural that Ricky would pass the time by exploring his watery domain. His mother and father had often cautioned him not to swim too far from their coral home without one or both of them to accompany him and he usually obeyed. He was also flawless about making it home at reasonable times and he never sneaked off either. So one day, when Ricky had gone out to explore a nearby undersea formation and didn't make it home in time for curfew, Rikuo and Aqueria were concerned. Concern became frustration; frustration gave way to worry and worry, if not satiated soon, evolves into all out panic. Before long, Aqueria was in hysterics and Rikuo vowed that he'd circle the entire planet as many times and as much time as it took to bring their son home safe and sound. And woe betide (pun intended) anyone or anything that dared get in his way.

He didn't bother entertaining the thought that some undersea predator might have snagged Ricky…he'd taught his son too well about how to avoid dangerous forms of sea life and what to do if he encountered one. Not only that, but Ricky was a natural in the skill of mimicking…changing the morphology of one's appendage or even full body to appear as that of another aquatic creature. Ricky's favorite mimics were the lionfish, and sea wasp, both of which were considered deadly poisonous and thus not at the top of most predator's menus.

Rikuo had searched extensively in the oceans. Finally out of desperation, he'd gone onto land, thinking perhaps that Ricky might have attempted to visit one of his land bound friends by himself after all. Not only had this proven fruitless but it made things all the more mysterious. Talbain's dojo had been his first stop and he was surprised to find it closed and empty, despite his arriving at a time when a class should have been in session.

There was an extensive amount of damage inside, as if a battle had been fought, wolf claw marks everywhere, but no sign of Jon or more importantly, his son. Next he'd gone to Felicia's orphanage. The children and workers there (at this point let's just assume he was in some sort of disguise or has the ability to mimic land-based humans) informed him that she'd gone off to "take care of something important" and hadn't returned since. At her home, her cat friends had little more than this to tell him either, although Pico, her closest friend suggested that she may have gone off looking for Jon and they all mentioned something about changes taking place in the Makai realm since Pyron's defeat. None of them had seen Ricky though, and they bade him well in being found without harm. Most perplexing was Quatos's village. It virtually _wasn't there_. No Quatos, no Sasquatches, no sign of life. The entire village was empty although Rikuo noted that several fires had been left burning. It was as if something had come along and frightened or taken the Sasquatches away. The search for Ricky, however, continued.

Searching the oceans yet again, Rikuo then heard, for the first time, his son's cries of distress, and strangely, at the same time, he had a vision of a particular place, familiar and close to home but somehow different. Putting all suspicions aside, Rikuo made a beeline for the place and quickly realized that it wasn't what it seemed. A huge vortex sucked him in before he could even get a good layout of the place and he lost consciousness.

Rikuo came to and was greeted by a smiling female face with bright blue eyes. "Aqueria?" he wondered aloud. "Sorry Rick, ol' buddy. I know you want me to be your wife but I'm already taken and cats hate water," a sassy feline voice replied. Sure enough, it was Felicia. He felt something warm and furry at his back and looked up to see Quatos's fangs grinning down at him. Not far away, Jon Talbain lay in wolf form, snoring loudly and Victor Von Geldenheim was there too, his normally impassive golem face full of genuine concern. Much to his dismay, he did not see Ricky among his friends. Telling them his story, he was given an explanation that really wasn't what he'd wanted hear.

The Makai realm was dying out and Darkstalkers were basically being evicted by this, forced out into the human world. An ancient lord from Belial Aensland's court, one Jedah, was trying to rectify the situation albeit in the worse way possible--destroying everything that had existed in the old Makai realm and rebirthing it via a vile Shintai being that was even now being nursed in its womb. In order for this to be brought about Jedah needed souls, from powerful warriors nonetheless and having been the crew that saved the world from Pyron, Felicia explained, they fit the bill.

Worse yet, the reformatting of the Makai world was actually nothing more than a dry run, the Earth Realm was next. Realizing now that everything they all held dear was in danger of perishing and that finding his son wouldn't matter if the very planet he was somewhere on no longer existed, Rikuo grudgingly agreed to fight the good fight once more. He soon came to realize that his son was likely being used as bait to lure him here and that the other Darkstalkers were experiencing similar circumstances. Before long, the multidimensional battlefield was drawn and all the players made themselves known. And not all of them were on the good guys' side...

………………………………...

(I'm going to skip the details between here and the time Rikuo finally catches up to Ricky b/c:

1. It would take too long and the focus of this story is Rikuo finding Ricky and everything that occurred thereafter;

2. If you really want to know how things went down, there's a ton of fanfics out there that novelize this. Either that or you can play the game Darkstalkers 3 aka Vampire Savior. Just get a Playstation, hunt it down at the arcades or download a MAME emulator and track down the rom for it.)


	2. Chapter 2

Rikuo swam towards the voice and found himself looking into a sunken derelict ship, covered with algae and coral. Staring through a busted out porthole, he found the very precious thing that had drawn him into this new adventure. "Ricky," he exclaimed, "My beloved child. I thought I'd never find you. I darn near searched all seven seas at least 5 times over and wound up helping my old buddies fight some crazed maniac while I was looking for you." Father and son embraced tightly until poor Ricky thought he'd be crushed to death or suffocated. The hug seemed to go on forever but all too soon, it gave way to an even worse pain, that of a father pinching his son by the ear flap (assuming those fins on either side of their heads count as ear flaps.)

"What were you thinking, small fry?! We've told you not to go so far out without one of us to accompany you and you always listen. You had me worried sick to my gills and not to mention your poor mother. She's probably shed all of her scales and torn her beautiful fins to shreds wondering if she'd ever see you again. You've never disobeyed us before, son but do you realize the stress you've put us through?!," and finally the punishment, "You're grounded for the next 5 full moons and believe me for what you put us through, it would be twice as long if I weren't so happy to see you right now so you'd better be on your very best behavior after this. GOT IT?" Ricky's ear fin felt as if it was going to fall off, so great was the pain and his father's fury. Speechless and sobbing, he could only nod his head in affirmation to Rikuo's orders and even then only slightly. Once Rikuo let his ear flap go, the poor mer-kid threw his head back and broke into a fresh set of sobs the tears coming in fountains from his eyes (yeah I know they're underwater, but treat it like manga or anime. No matter where they are when someone starts bawling the tears just gush out.)

"I'm really sorry Dad. I didn't mean to upset you guys. And I really was on my way back home with a surprise for you. But then some big whirlpool popped up out of nowhere and I couldn't make it and I had to hide in this ship and wait for it to go away but it wouldn't and I'm sorry!"

Rikuo felt sorry for his son then; after all, part of the reason Ricky couldn't get home in the first place was because that blade-winged freak had begun altering the Maki realm, sealing him off from what would have been a short swim back to his family. On top of that, Jedah had used Ricky's distress to lure the mighty former mer-emperor to him so that he, along with the other Darkstalkers would be forced to fight their way out. The plot had been that they'd all be destroyed and their souls would be fed into his hideous Shintai infant so that it could have enough power to attain full form and bring about his dark revelations. The point was, it wasn't all Ricky's fault and more than anything, Rikuo was glad to see his son safe and sound. He turned to let his son know that even though he was still under punishment, all was forgiven and only then did he realize that Ricky wasn't exactly alone and what his son meant when he'd said he was bringing home a surprise.

Standing next him in the old wreck was _another _mer-child. A young girl to be exact. Rikuo's eyes widened in wonder. Up till now, he thought that he, Aqueria, and Ricky were the last of their kind but now this. It had to be another of Jedah's tricks, he thought at first. Perhaps that demon hadn't been defeated as soundly as he thought but he distinctly remembered the entire pseudo realm that Jedah had created being dissolved away, its maker having been utterly destroyed by all of their combined effort and reduced literally to nothing. So she had to be real…

"Ricky, who's this girl," he asked sounding somewhat more apprehensive than he probably should have at that tense moment. As if to illustrate this, the girl, having witnessed Rikuo's tirade on his son, hid shyly behind Ricky, barely daring to peek up over his shoulder. Ricky's smile returned and his eyes brightened. "Dad, this is my new best friend. Her name's Micky and she was trapped just like I was. I was actually on my way to bring her home to meet you guys but then all this happened so we hid out in that old wreck and waited for it to pass…"

"And when Jedah started screwing around with the boundaries, you guys were in plain sight but I couldn't even see you let alone reach you without getting sucked into his realm." Rikuo finished. Then scratching the back of his head and feeling embarrassed for his unnatural but understandable loss of control, he apologized "Sorry about the yelling. I was very worried about my son's safety. I didn't mean to frighten you, child."

"It's o.k. Micky. My dad's cool. Go meet him." Ricky stepped, er swam, aside and revealed Micky in full view. Superficially, she was the same as Ricky and Rikuo but there were differences (aside from her being magenta scaled which most mer-people are usually different colored anyways). Her earflaps were waist length as opposed to the Aulbaths' short ear fins. She also had something that they didn't: two large bioluminescent bulbs protruding from her forehead. Curious, Rikuo had to ask, "Micky are you from Atlantis by any chance?" Maybe his people had moved deeper and evolved to deal with the darkness and the pressure. "No sir, I am from Sargasso," the mer-girl replied and a light went off in Rikuo's head. He'd heard stories about Sargasso City, it was the sister city to Atlantis but had mysteriously disappeared some time ago. "Say, kids, what say we head home, get you fed and then Micky, you can take us to your city if you think they will have us." "Sure," she replied, "Sargasso City is known for its open arms when it comes to visitors and new comers." As they headed off in the direction of the Aulbath's residence, Rikuo sidled over to his son and gave him a playful nudge in the ribs. "So how did you get lucky enough to find her?" "

"Uh, well I was at the coral formation I told you about then I heard someone singing. Sounded like Mom but it was higher pitched so I followed it and there she was. We started playing hydro tag after introducing ourselves and next thing you know, that vortex sprung up and nearly sucked her in. I pulled her out of the way just in time," Ricky was beaming with pride at this, "and then we went into that old ship to wait it out."

Rikuo's mouth formed into his trademark smug grin: "You sure you weren't just trying to get to know her better?"

Ricky, blushing and embarrassed replied, "Eeeew Dad, come on. It's not even like that between us. We just met."

"And you're already calling her your best friend. I think something's definitely going on."

"Cut it out Dad, she might hear."

"So you poor mother and I are pulling our scales out, I wind up fighting a psychopath who wants to reform the world by basically destroying everything on it and you are out picking up mer-chicks. Way to go, sport."

"Dad please….."

"You know I met your mother when she was singing……"

"DADDY!"


	3. Chapter 3

Upon returning home, the first thing Ricky experienced was an even tighter hug from his mother, Aqueria.

"My baby, my little minnow, you had your mommy so scared. I just knew I'd lost you forever." Mother and son embraced for must have felt like centuries to them both Finally, she released him, keeping her arms draped around his shoulders and gazed into her husbands eyes with at least twice the admiration shed had when she first met him.

"Once again you've done what I thought was the impossible, my love. Just as I thought I'd never see another of my kind again you showed up. And now as I thought we'd lost our son forever to the sea, you have delivered him right back into our arms. You are truly a living breathing miracle."

"Hey that's why you married me in the first place isn't it, Angelfish? I told you I'd move Heaven, Earth, and even Makai to get our little fry back." He didn't bother telling her how he'd stumbled upon Jedah's plot to destroy Earth and Makai in the process; it was irrelevant and if he mentioned that to her with what all they'd gone through looking for Ricky, Aqueria would probably never let either of them out of her sight again. But he did remember one other important thing.

"Ricky, didn't you have a surprise for us?" "Yeah, Mom, I'd like you meet Micky. She's my new best friend." Aqueria's eyes widened with amazement and utter disbelief as a magenta scaled mer-girl stepped up to her. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Mrs. Aulbath. Ricky's told me all about you and how you'd be glad to meet another mer-person." Aqueria was speechless. She wasn't trying to ignore Micky but after living and thinking that her family were the last ones left and now actually seeing a fellow mer-person...a child no less which meant that there must have been parents somewhere...well it was a little much to take in at one time. So she promptly did what most mothers or women in genral do when confronted with the unbelievable.

"...Mom, Mom?" Aqueria came to at the sound of her son's voice. "Ricky, Rikuo, I just had the most amazing dream." She proceeded to tell them about how she'd feared Ricky for dead when he and Rikuo walked in and as a bonus produced yet another mer-person.

"Uh, Queri, love, that wasn't a dream." Rikuo informed. Then in a whisper, "And please try not to faint in front of our guest. You'll hurt her feelings." Sure enough, there was Micky looking innocently at Aqueria. "Did I do or say something wrong?"


	4. Chapter 4

"...and we've been all alone down here since then. So I was quite a little...er...surprised to see you walk in." Aqueria finished explaining over dinner. "I hope I didn't make you feel bad."

"No, it's ok," Micky replied. "I was kind of surprised myself that there were any Atlanteans around. After the great seaquake, the Sargassians tried and tried to locate them in case they needed help. They sent out search parties and everything but with all the changes that started taking place in the ocean, they were unable to reach Atlantis and gave up hope. They are going to be so happy to see that you made it though."

"Yeah, so when do we leave? I can't wait to see your city!" Ricky was beside himself with anticipation; he loved visiting new places. "Um soon, son," it was Rikuo who answered. Excited as the young mer-child was at the prospect of having friends he _could_ visit and spend time with without the having to leave the water, his mother was not so enthused by this and attentive husband/father that he was, Rikuo had already figured upon this potential situation.

"I think your mother and I need to have a little talk first...alone."

"Aww Dad, now?"

"Yes now. It's very important, for all of us. Why don't you and Micky go outside and play a bit and we'll be ready as soon as we're done."

After the kids had left Rikuo turned to regard the concerned look in his wife's eyes.

"Do you think, after all this time alone, that we'll be able to adjust to being among others again?" she inquired. "I'm pretty sure Sargassians have customs that are similar to our own and the few that are different we'll find a way around them," Rikuo answered confidently.

"It's not us, it's our son I'm thinking of mostly," Aqueria stated. "What if, what if the Sargassian children deicide he doesn't fit in. He doesn't have their lights, they might pick on his shorter fins. Rikuo, I want our son to finish growing up happy and loved. I won't have him treated like an outcast...even if it means he has to grow up alone."

"Sweetheart, you're over exaggerating. I know you were sheltered in Atlantis your whole life, but my family has actually visited Sargasso on several occasions when I was Ricky's age. The children there were in no way discriminating or unfriendly and always welcomed us with open arms for as long as we wished to stay. It wasn't just because we were royalty either; those guys would even accept some of the land-bound Darkstalkers without any kind of prejudice...that is if any of them found a way to live indefinitely underwater."

"I know but well... when I met you, we were both adults for one thing and we both knew or thought we knew that we were the last of our kind. We'd both been alone for so long that we knew we loved each other at first sight. We didn't exactly have much of a choice in that..although I'd have taken you over any other mer-man even if there were others still around at that time.

"But little Ricky is so young and naturally naive. He already loves Micky, I could see it in the way he looks at her and speaks of her. If she chooses a Sargassian over him when they come of age to decide who they'll spend the rest of their lives with, well...I just don't want to see him get hurt."

Rikuo took Aqueria's hands in his own "Somehow, my love, I don't think that's going to happen. That small fry doesn't want to admit it but he and Micky have definitely formed an inseperable bond." He watched the two mer-kids playing happily outside with nary a care in the world except for how good life was at that point. "Sure only time will tell rather that relationship goes beyond friendship or not, but I am almost 100 percent certain that Micky'd never willing do anything to hurt him. I approve of her as a good choice for our son."

He sounded so sure, Aqueria couldn't argue with that notion.

"If those are your feelings, love, then they are mine." And they also agreed that they wouldn't discuss the possibility of moving until after they'd visited Sargasso and met with its officials to tell them their story. Sure Sargasso would likely welcome them but no use getting anyone's hopes up, especially Ricky's until they knew beyond any reasonable doubt that they'd be accepted without any of what the air-breathers referred to as "red tape". Secretly, they both hoped that Ricky and Micky would one day be able to share the happiness and bliss of a rewarding companionship that they had shared with each other. But for now, it was time to return Micky to her home.

"Ok Micky, we're ready. you just tell us which way to go..."


End file.
